Israel’s genocide must fail- Nov 16, 2023

The attack on Gaza, the world’s largest prison and only concentration camp will have resulted by the time this article is published in 12,000 Palestinian lives, over 5,000 of them are children, and hundreds of thousands are injured, some severely. In addition, over 1.65 million Gazans have been displaced from the North to the south of Gaza. Does genocide (and ethnic cleansing mean that Israel is a victor? Not necessarily!

To start, according to the International Genocide Convention (1948), genocide refers to specific actions (such as killing or deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of a group in whole or in part) taken to destroy, in whole or in part, the group targeted, including on ethnic or national grounds. This is exactly what Israel is doing (cutting off water, food, mobility, fuel and energy, hence, let us call a spade a spade!

The cost of war: $50 billion

From a purely economic perspective, the cost of the war to Israel has surpassed $50 billion so far. In addition, present and expected future government revenues decreased, thus resulting in growing budget deficits.

There is also a forfeiture of domestic and future investment inflows and a domestic and global sense of enhanced uncertainty and doubt about the sustainability of the renegade state. Losses of lives in the battle against Hamas and the planned genocide and ethnic cleansing of Gaza are not made public, but they are significant. Israel’s known policy from the days of Nakba, the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in 1948, was to hide their losses and allow Arab media to show the Arab losses to create fear and forced displacement. Moreover, despite the much-touted myth of the promised land, hundreds of thousands of Israelis have left Israel and applied for residency elsewhere.

Among the vast majority of Arab masses, and not necessarily all their rulers, there is a sudden and growing sense that the invincible state and its army are not so invincible, and with will and some military power can be defeated. Consequently, resurfaced is the belief that what has been taken by force can be retaken, also by force. This outcome is apparent in the chants and demonstrations by millions of Arabs, particularly the youth, throughout the region.

Over 80 percent of the people in the US believe that Israel is not in the right

World sentiments have changed. Over 80 percent of the people in the US believe that Israel is not in the right. Over 1 million people demonstration in London alone a few days ago is evidence of a shift. Despite cart-blanche support to Israel in the first days of October, the world has witnessed some backtracking and softening of their statements, not because they have suddenly become enlightened but because their electorate has walked the streets in such powerful determination to right a wrong.

Let us take for example the sacking of the now-former Home Secretary of the UK, Suella Braverman. She is the daughter of Indian immigrants, a Buddhist married to Rael Braverman, an immigrant Jew from Israel and formerly South Africa who stated that intercultural coexistence has failed in Britain. She asked the police in the UK to be tougher on demonstrators to silence the pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Such statements and racial slurs she had made in the past had gone unnoticed and probably contributed to her political career as she received support from some (such as the Board of Deputies of British Jews).  

In the USA, the Center for Constitutional Rights filed a federal lawsuit on November 13, “Defense for Children International—Palestine, et al. v. Joseph Biden, et al., on behalf of Palestinian human rights organizations and Palestinians in Gaza and the U.S. Plaintiffs are suing President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken, and Defense Secretary Austin” for their failure to prevent and their complicity in the Israeli government’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

The world is changing

The world is changing, yet Netanyahu is failing to see this but he figures that he has much to lose, the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, has caught him and his fledgling Cabinet off guard. It was not expected that such a besieged vulnerable group in Gaza would wage such a massive attack, and win.

For Netanyahu to be reelected (and not end up in the dustbin of history and jail) he has to achieve a counter-win, one that is so apparent to all to wipe away the generated fear in Israel, and the sense of triumph among Arab masses, which explains his twin approach: a Holocaust-like Genocide or ethnic cleansing. The latter had been given the green light from the West according to sources since 2007, but opinions have been shifting amidst the world uproar.  The former is demonstrated by bombing hospitals and schools where people in war have traditionally gathered in search of safety; to Netanyahu, such places offer him the opportunity to kill more with less.

Why will Israel fail? The world is no longer the same. Information cannot be kept hidden from the world. Thank God for social media where ultimately all lies will be exposed, and the electorate in democratic states shall move against their bought-out representatives and force them to listen. The world is listening and watching!

Published in Jordan News:

https://www.jordannews.jo/Section-36/Opinion/Israel-s-genocide-must-fail-32357